Summary: Adjustments in attentional control by congruent
information in anterior cingulate cortex
Esther Aarts & Ardi Roelofs
F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging & Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information
Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Introduction
Subjects: 20 (8 male), mean age 21.2 (range 19-26).
Task: Respond manually to the word of arrow-word Stroop stimuli. Cues
predicted with 75% certainty the incongruent or congruent targets or
predicted the target condition with 50% certainty (non-predictive).
Participants were told to pay attention to the cues.
Design:
According to a dominant theory of attentional control1,2
,
adjustments in control are made upon detection or prediction of
response conflict by the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In line
with this view, previous research has demonstrated less
behavioral conflict and less conflict-related ACC activity after
incongruent than after congruent trials. This effect is claimed to
be induced by expected incongruency2